Jack
by Kantrix Gabriel
Summary: Maddie sees something in him, and surely Danny and Jazz didn't get everything from their mother. A series of vignettes exploring Jack – his personality, his past, the thoughts that make the orange-jumpsuit wearing, fudge-operated ghost hunter.
1. Secrets

**AN: Now Jack isn't my favorite character by any stretch of the imagination. He's amusing, yes, but his utter lack of personality in the show kind of made me overlook him. It recently occurred to me, though, that there has to be some depth to this man. He is married to Maddie, after all. She must see**_** something**_** in him. And surely Danny and Jazz didn't get everything from their mother. Thus this series of vignettes exploring Jack – his personality, his past, the thoughts that make the orange-jumpsuit wearing, fudge operated ghost hunter. These little snippets won't be connected, and may conflict from time to time. I'm just seeing if I can find a believable character under all that comic relief. Wish me luck. **

**The Fentons belong to Mr. Hartman. I own none of the characters that appear in this chapter, whether in the flesh, in mention, or on screen. **

**Thanks to pearl84 for, even inadvertently, inspiring this adventure. **

**Secrets**

Jack Fenton looked around the room, a smile sliding across his face as he took in the empty house. Maddie was out on a mother-daughter trip with Jazz all weekend and Danny was at the fair with Sam and Tucker for the day. This left Jack alone, free to do what he wanted.

It wasn't that Jack hated being with his family – that couldn't be farther from the truth. He loved nothing more than exploring the world of ghosts with his wife, or hanging out with his kids, whenever he could catch them. It was just that sometimes Jack needed time to himself. Time to do all the things he couldn't, or wouldn't, do with his family around.

Humming the Ghostbusters' theme, Jack trotted up to his room and changed out of his trademark orange jumpsuit, opting for the more comfortable jeans and t-shirt of his youth. Granted, the t-shirt was still orange – it was his favorite color after all – but it was a nice change from the form-fitting one-piece he usually wore.

Looking twice around the room, just to be safe, Jack opened the door to his half of the joint closet and leaned his massive bulk into it. Digging carefully though piles of clothes long fallen from their racks, a discarded pile of torn jumpsuits, some winter clothes, and a couple of pairs of old boots, he found what he was looking for.

Nestled in the far corner of his closet, between some old steel-toed work boots and last year's jumpsuit, was a little white shoe-box, it's lid resting loosely on top.

Carefully freeing the box from its well-hidden corner, Jack looked around the room once more and set it on the bed. With a quick shove, he pushed everything that had spilled free back into the closet and shut the door.

Grabbing the box Jack descended again into his blessedly empty living room. He went first to lock the front door, peeking not-so-subtly through the front window, and pulling the curtains as he saw no one coming. Then turned for the kitchen.

He locked the back door as well and pulled the curtains over the windows.

Hungry smile on his face, Jack pulled open the fridge door and extracted the small plate of fudge Maddie had left him, along with a half-gallon of milk. Setting his prize on the counter, Jack noticed the note nestled between two pieces of heaven on a plate.

_Love you. Enjoy your day off._

Jack smiled still further at the message, his heart warming. It was the little things. They reminded him – as if he could ever forget – just how much he loved her. How he would do anything to protect his Maddie.

Still staring at the note, he reached up and freed a glass from the cupboard above him. Pouring himself some milk, he managed to wedge the milk back between left-over take-out, a jug of orange juice, and various condiments.

Carrying everything to the living room, Jack cast one last look around for imposters. Still no sign of intrusion.

Carefully, reverently, Jack pulled the lid off the little white shoe-box. Inside glistened a small collection of seeming junk, things one would find on the quarter table at their local lawnsale.

A well-loved dog toy in what may have once been the shape of a squirrel rested between a ratty old catching glove and an old journal. The spine long since worked past the point of fixing graced a copy of _My Friend Jasper Jones_, a small brown picture book just small enough to fit inside the box. An old pillowcase, a little tiny picture album, several crayon drawings, a couple of homemade Fathers' Day cards, a scrap of white cloth embroidered in silver beads, a small ghost blaster – his very first, the treasures were many, nearly too many to safely close the lid over.

But it wasn't these that Jack was after. Carefully lifting the other memories and setting them aside, he freed a DVD case from the very bottom. It had once been a VHS, but the family's very last VCR had eaten the tape, leaving Jack heartbroken. He had been forced to buy a replacement DVD, and do quite the James Bond in order to keep his family from seeing it. One look and he knew they would be disappointed in him.

He could imagine the look in their eyes. The hurt, the anger, the sadness...it went against everything his wife had taught him. Everything they had worked for in their years together.

Still, the story was part of his childhood. No matter how he tried to convince himself of its falseness, trying to pass it off as a simple romantic fantasy, or a delusion or a childhood amusement, the fudge-lover could not bring himself to stop watching it. At least once a year he dug it from the depths of his closet where no one else dared venture and indulged that nagging need. All the time struggling to doubt its content, while at the same time swept up in the possibility of it all. In all the potential it would open up, were the film true. Were the film's plot even plausible.

So it was that Jack popped the DVD free and slid it into the player, turning the TV on and hunting the control from between the couch cushions.

Pulling his favorite chair over and settling it down in his prime viewing position, feet propped on the coffee table, fudge and milk in hand, Jack grabbed the control and started the DVD player.

The DVD spun to life, its menu cycling through footage of a young girl and her father, travelling to a new home for the hundredth time. The girl reminded him of Maddie every time – of the stories she told of her younger days. This was back before her father passed on, when her family had moved a lot, following him across the country as he was posted at this base and that base.

The girl was also strong willed and brave, and pretty as well. She wasn't nearly as pretty as Maddie, of course, but Jack still remembered crushing on her as a young boy.

He hit play, watching with a smile as two boys dared and teased and bickered and finally entered the haunted mansion. He could, and did, recite their lines along with them. He smiled as the main character hesitatingly approached the boys, calling out to them but not wanting to approach them. They'd run away, he insisted. They'd be afraid.

When finally the main character finally appeared the boys screamed, fleeing the mansion. Only their flashlights remained, clattering onto the floor behind them to highlight a developing photo they had taken. He smiled in the picture, even as the boys beside him screamed.

Casper's lonely sigh echoed across screen, and Jack felt it tug softly at his heart.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if somewhere, anywhere, there was a friendly ghost just like him?

~*~*~


	2. Taxidermy

**To respond to my one wonderful reviewer: yes, I am planning to continue. I have at least a few more chapters put together and I intend to post those at the very least. However, I must warn you - it's been a few years since I last saw the actual show. I'd watch it again, but my host family does not have internet at the house so I'm pretty limited. If you see any information in these tidbits that contradicts cannon, please do let me know. **

**The Fentons belong to Mr. Hartman. The A-Team and the Packers belong to their respective owners. **

**Taxidermy**

"Jack, are you listening?" barked an angry voice – that of his father.

"Yes!" the boy responded, his attention snapping back to the action at hand.

"This is the most interesting part, Jakkie-boy. You can't make a good mount without the right eyes."

Jack nodded, reluctantly listening as his father pulled out a tackle box full of glass eyes and waved his hand over them, explaining the advantages and faults of each.

Jack had never, and would never, be one for the details. Especially when it came to taxidermy – his father's beloved hobby. As long as he could remember there had been stuffed animals, not the cuddly kind – the formerly breathing kind, scattered throughout the house. But even being raised in their presence, the stuffed carcasses creeped him out.

There was no way he'd ever get involved in something so...morbid. He wanted something more entertaining, more wholesome, less nightmare inducing. Currently that something was football. He was pretty good now, not pro by any stretch of the imagination, but above average for a freshman. There was still time for him to get better. He practiced every day.

"Which one do you think I'll pick?" asked his father, tweezers poised above the plastic box.

"One of the brown ones?" Jack suggested softly, taking in the deer head before him.

"What size?"

"Big?" he tried again, pointing vaguely toward one end of the collection.

"How do I know which gauge to pick?" asked his father next, tapping his foot impatiently.

"You hold them up and see what looks good?" he suggested, wincing.

His father sighed, snagging an eye out of the top corner of the box and holding it out for Jack to see.

"We measured the socket before we stretched the skin over, remember?"

"Oh," Jack said, rubbing his neck as a soft blush colored his cheeks, "right..."

The door to the workshop creaked open and a sweet-looking brunette appeared, her brilliant blue eyes sweeping the room.

"Dinner time, you two," she informed them. "You can finish that later."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he dropped down from his spare stool and scampered away from the controlled carnage. Flashing a grin at his mother he disappeared into the house, nearly tripping over the enthusiastic Jack Russell waiting for him.

"Hey BA, sorry you had to stay in here," Jack apologized, kneeling to rub the dog's ears. "too much stuff in there that you could get into."

The little dog just smiled his doggie smile and kicked his leg in rhythm of Jack's itching.

"Blocking the hall," his father pointed out, skirting by his son's already broad shoulders, "we have to walk here too, you know."

"Sorry," Jack said, scuttling quickly into the kitchen behind his father.

"Go wash your hands," his mother instructed lightly as she followed him in. "Who knows where those animals have been. Mr Baracus included."

To tell the truth Mr. BA Baracus, Jack Russell Terrier, looked nothing like his namesake. But Jack had insisted. His best friend for life was going to be named after his hero – his favorite member of the A-Team. If it were possible to run around saving people from the corrupt and evil of the world, Jack would totally have done it. In lieu of that opportunity, though, he would be perfectly happy playing for the Packers.

"'kay," Jack answered, giving BA one last pat on the head before he headed for the bathroom.


	3. Ten Reasons to Marry Maddie

**Hey all, sorry for the delay. I originally planned to post once a week, but we can probably all see how well **_**that**_** went. In any event, I bring you the newest chapter exploring the oddness that is Jack. This one's pretty short, and not exactly in my usual writing style, so be warned. I'll try to post another short chapter later in the week to make up for the length (or lack thereof), but that'll depend on whether or not I can track down internets. **

**Also, thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews. I'll do my best to reply to them this week. And thanks for the heads up on the formatting – I fixed it. I think... **

**Ten reasons to marry Maddie**

1) I love her.

2) She's smart – a lot smarter than me.

3) She's beautiful.

4) She makes amazing fudge.

5) She's the best ghost hunter in the world.

6) We've been dating for over two years now.

7) She makes amazing fudge.

8) She said she wanted kids and I really want kids too...

9) I don't think I'll love anyone like I love Mads.

10) Because she asked me to.


	4. Childish

**AN: Heh… so much for updating within the week. Sorry about that. **

**Some things you should know about this chapter: **

**1) The character Stephanie belongs to the wonderful pearl84 who gave me permission to use her in this chapter. She originated in the story **_**Checkmate**_**, which you should all read if you haven't already. I wrote this chapter before Maddie and Stephanie met in **_**Checkmate**_**, so it doesn't entirely fit in cannon. If you consider this one tiny passage to be their only pre-**_**Checkmate **_**meeting, though, you could say Maddie forgot all about her. **

**2) All college furniture and living arrangements are based off of my college. If you've any questions about how suites work or about those silly wooden rocking desk chairs, do ask. **

**3) The Fentons belong to Mr. Hartman. **_**Peter Pan **_**belongs to J.M. Barrie. Nameless suite-mate is **_**mine.**_

**Childish**

His favorite book was, and always would be, _Peter Pan_. He didn't want to grow up either and, quite frankly, he didn't plan to. Even in college he slept with his teddy bear and went on sledding trips and watched Disney movies and wanted to get a job protecting the world from evil. Only once did he ever doubt his childish behavior and that was a day he'd never forget.

He'd just woken up from a nap, the staple form of recreation for students during finals, and was gathering his papers to study when he heard his best friend's voice rising to penetrate the walls.

"Why _are _you dating that buffoon? Can't you see he's nothing but an overgrown child!"

"Vlad," Maddie's voice answered, sharp in its retort, "He is so much more than that! You're his best friend, how could you possibly think such a thing?"

"Because it's true, Maddie. He still sleeps with that blasted teddy bear every night!"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

Jack was sure he could hear Vlad growl.

"He spends all day with his precious portal and never does any work! Do you even know if he's passing his classes?"

"I'm with him every minute he's working on that portal. It's as much my project as it is his. I used to think it was your project too!"

"It stopped being my project the day it ruined my life," Vlad spat, and Jack could imagine, clear as day, the anger on Vlad's ecto-acne strewn face.

"That was an accident."

"Don't let him ruin your life like he did mine," Vlad pleaded, "Please, come with me, Maddie. Together we can escape his foolish ghost obsession and live—"

Jack opened the door into the common room, his massive frame filling the tiny doorway. Everyone stopped to look at him – Maddie, Vlad, and Vlad's childhood friend Stephanie, who had yet to say a word.

"Jack..." Maddie trailed, frozen as she looked up at him.

"Vladdie's right, Mads. You should go."

"No."

"I don't want to h—"

"Jackson Jeremiah Fenton you stop that attitude right now," she ordered. "I'm not going anywhere with Vlad, especially not as mixed up as he is from this sickness."

"Ecto-acne does not effect my—"

"I don't care," she interrupted, turning her glare back to Vlad. "You have a fever, Stephanie told me as much, and unless you turn on your heels and leave this instant you _will_ regret the things you have told me today no matter how much you claim it was the sickness talking."

"Maddie, I—"

"_OUT!"_ she yelled, fists clenched at her sides as she stood on tiptoe, anger radiating from ever fiber of her being.

"Come on Vlad," Stephanie begged, coming to take his arm. "They'll be missing you at the hospital by now..."

"We _will_ continue this conversation another time," Vlad said coolly, stepping away from the wall and standing shakily on his own. "But Madeline…"

"Get out of here now, Vlad, before I do something I'll regret," Maddie ground out, glaring.

Stephanie moved to help the future billionaire, but he waved her away, stumbling to the front door and into the hall on his own power.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before closing the door behind them.

"Maddie—"

"Don't you start, mister," Maddie said, stalking over before her boyfriend. She didn't even come up to his shoulder, but there she was - one of the scariest things he'd ever seen.

"I don't want to hear you say anything like that _ever again_."

"But—"

"Is that clear?"

"Maddie, why do you love me?" Jack asked, eyes downcast even beyond his vertically challenged girlfriend. "I'm so stupid, and I always mess things up and I... I'll never be as smart as Vladdie. He'll be rich someday, when I'm living in an apartment with my ghost portal and microwave dinners... Mads, you deserve better."

He raised his head suddenly to the scrape of a chair – the foolish wooden rocking chair that the school provided for Maddie's desk. She placed it in front of him and climbed on, now looking down at her husband with too-shiny eyes.

"I told you, I don't ever want to hear you say that," she said, placing a hand on each of his shoulders. "You are bumbling and you aren't the smartest guy in school, but those are some of the things I love about you. You look at things differently – you always see the good in things, in people. You always find a new way, a unique way to solve things, doing something no one else would even think to try – especially brainiacs like Vlad. I love that about you."

"I sleep with a teddy bear."

"I sleep with an eye mask. Is there a difference?"

"What about..." his words trailed, his face reddening slightly as her gaze deepened.

"Shut up and kiss me," she said, leaning forward on her chair. For a moment they forgot the fight, forgot everything that had gone on only moments before and moved toward one another. But as her lips neared his, the chair tipped, tossing her clumsily into his arms. For a moment Jack managed to totter, but his arms were too busy protecting Maddie to windmill for balance. They both fell into the mess that was Jack Fenton's room with an almighty crash.

For a moment they both sat there, catching their breath and letting the adrenaline ebb.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked, looking down at the small woman on his chest.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "You?"

"I don't know, I..." he reached below his back, one arm still keeping Maddie safely balanced, and pulled out the remains of last semester's art project. He'd only taken it for the arts requirement, and it had been nigh unrecognizable as a dog-ghost then. Now it was...

"I think I see it now," she said with a grin, "there's the nose and the tail..." she began to snicker, "and the ear – there, all... all..." she burst out laughing.

Jack felt himself starting to snicker.

"It's... it's..." but no matter how hard Maddie tried, she couldn't get her witty comment out past the laughter.

In moments Jack fell victim to the contagious ridiculousness and they lay there, giggling crazily.

It was at that moment their other suitemate, the one that wasn't Vlad, came through the front door. She kicked off her shoes in the doorway and came to stand over their quaking forms.

"What are you two high on?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"L-life!" Jack gasped in answer, causing Maddie to fall into another set of giggles as their suitemate just shook her head.

"When you come down, I'm in the other room reviewing for that physics final."

The two fell into a fresh set of laughter, continuing to roll about on the floor as their suitemate stepped away from the crazies and headed for the double she and Maddie shared.


	5. Songs of Life

**AN: A couple of years my friend introduced me to a fun challenge – put your iPod (or other music device) on shuffle and write stories to go with each song. I applied it to Jack's universe. Not all titles that remain are actual song titles, but you may recognize some that I didn't change. Characters belong to the ever awesome Mr. Hartman. Songs belong to their respective owners. I'd list them if I could remember them. **

**Songs of Life**

**I'm a Believer**

_just 'cause you can't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist_

How many conferences had they attended? How much ectoplasm had they sampled and tested and brought as evidence? Why didn't anyone believe them?

**Love Song**

_don't ever do that again_

They'd fought so hard over something so small: no one could remember what it was. They'd made up over an out-of-key ditty sung under her window. The cops had arrested him for disturbing the peace.

**A Tendency To Start Fires**

_you give pyromaniac a whole new meaning_

He couldn't use the toaster or the microwave without having to use the extinguisher. He wasn't allowed within ten feet of the stove.

**According to Plan**

_who needs a white wedding?_

A small ceremony out under the sun, her in a gorgeous white dress all beaded in silver – him in a black tux and orange tie. The band was a boom box, the priest a retired general. They wouldn't have had it any other way.

**Garden**

_snowballs in heck have better chances_

Mom said they should start a garden. It wouldn't be that hard to take care of, and her Jakkie had always loved fresh veggies. Then again, she'd never had him grow them himself.

**Little Things**

_he loved her for them_

A note in his lunch, an unexpected kiss, fudge on the counter, flowers on the table for no reason at all: a million little reminders that they were together.

**Shock**

_that... really?_

The little blue plus sign changed their lives. It would be a story for years to come, how he had fainted while she laughed.

**What a Man's Gotta Do**

_Sweetie, call the electrician_

They needed to install a new ceiling fan in the nursery. It was a man's job, he could do it himself. Just splice together the red wires and strip the black one so it could be joined with the blue one and do... do... where does the green one go again?

**Anniversary**

_you remember our wedding, right?_

Much as she loved him, he was hopeless. Though, she supposed, most guys at least remembered for two years, didn't they?

**Welcome**

_she's so... little_

He couldn't stop staring at the tiny bundle in his arms. She was red and wrinkled and her head was shaped like a cone and she would _not_ stop screaming...she was absolutely beautiful.

**Night Dance**

_this lasts _how_ long?_

Bags under her eyes as she dragged them open, the familiar scream piercing the night. "I've got her," a voice whispers and his form rises from the bed. She finds them four hours later, passed out on the couch while the Ghostbusters Soundtrack makes its hundredth round. The little one is perfectly comfortable on his massive chest, not at all bothered by his snores.

**Voice Mail **

_so much for serious_

Welcome to the home of Jack, Maddie, and Jasmine Fenton. Please leave a message after the— Jazz, sweetie, don't touch tha—

BEEEEP


	6. House Rules

**House Rules**

** ffnet has seen fit to screw with the formatting on this one. You have my apologies.  
**

1) Nothing goes in the microwave without Mom's okay.  
- marshmallows, Peeps, soap, water bottles, socks, mood rings, and paper-mache volcanoes are a no-go

2) I must enter the house through the front and back doors.  
- Windows are not "baby doors."

3) BA cannot make me do anything, no matter how BA he is.

4) I must not hold funerals for any mounts my dad makes.

5) I must not feed BA paper and pretend it was my homework.

6) French fries are not vegetables.  
- neither is fudge

7) No cleats in the house  
- Nothing that has been on the football field is allowed past the laundry room  
- this includes footballs  
- it doesn't include me

8) No one goes into Dad's shop without permission (like anyone would want to)

9) Mom is not to be disturbed until her second cup of coffee  
- unless aliens are invading  
- or the world is ending - and I have proof

10) We must sleep until AT LEAST 5 am on X-Mas morning  
- or remain quietly in my room until then


End file.
